NOTES BY THE WAY. 163 



THE TREE-TOAD. 



WE can boast a greater assortment of toads and 

 frogs in this country than can any other land. What 

 a chorus goes up from our ponds and marshes in 

 spring ! The like of it cannot be heard anywhere 

 else under the sun. In Europe it would certain!} 

 have made an impression upon the literature. An 

 attentive ear will detect first one variety, then an- 

 other, each occupying the stage from three or four 

 days to a week. The latter part of April, when the 

 little peeping frogs hylodes are in full chorus, 

 one comes upon places in his drives or walks late in 

 the day, where the air fairly palpitates with sound ; 

 from every little marshy hollow and spring run there 

 rises an impenetrable maze or cloud of shrill musical 

 voices. After the peepers, the next frog to appear 

 is the clucking frog, a rather small, dark-brown frog, 

 with a harsh, clucking note. Their chorus is heard 

 for a few days only, while their spawn is being de- 

 posited. In less than a week they disappear, and 1 

 never see or hear them again till the next April. 

 As the weather gets warmer, the toads take to the 

 water, and set up that long-drawn musical tr-r-r-r-r-r-r- 

 ing note. The voice of the bull-frog, who calls, ac- 

 cording 10 the boys, "jug o' rum," "jug o'rum," "pull 

 the plug," " pull the plug," is not heard much before 

 June. The peepers, the clucking frog, and the bull- 

 frog, are the only ones that call in chorus. The 



